I'm not convinced that expectations have all that much to do with it.
How many of us went into The Phantom Menace expecting at least to enjoy it, if only because it was a new Star Wars movie? I was excited like almost everyone else. I really wanted to love it. Admittedly, early spoilers did not seem promising, but I was prepared to forgive an awful lot. But I couldn't forgive absolute shit, which is what we got.
I was skeptical when Attack of the Clones was released. But I figured that Lucas had been a bit rusty, as anyone might be after a 16-year hiatus. So I went in expecting AOTC to be better than TPM...not necessarily good, mind you, but better. I found it worse. Again, I was disappointed, despite expectations to the contrary.
Now, having been disappointed twice, I can't say that I have much hope for Revenge of the Sith. I fully expect to hate it. But that has never stopped me from enjoying certain movies before. Expectations only go so far.
In other words, I don't believe that the majority of people will hate a movie because they expected to from the get-go. The fact that most people shell out the money for tickets to movies that they supposedly have convinced themselves they are going to hate, just shows that they are open-minded enough to at least see the movie to render a final judgment.
Incidentally, I don't believe that people will love a movie just because they have convinced themselves that they are going to love it, a la the gushers. But I do believe that they will defend it just because they think they're supposed to have loved it.
This post has been edited by Devout Catalyst: 19 May 2005 - 02:57 PM